Sunkist Cherry Limeade

It's been a while since I had any type of Sunkist drinks. I used to love them as a child, but as I got older, I began to gravitate away from them. I saw the Cherry Limeade version today at my local grocery store. They were on sale for 2 for $1.19 so I grabbed one. It's not like I was dying to try it, but I figured for the price, I might as well give it a shot. Let's just say this. I will not be getting any other Sunkist flavors for quite some time. Why? Is it that good? No. It's bad enough that to keep me from the rest of their product line. For starters, it did not have the strong "pop" taste that I remember Sunkist having. It did not seem as carbonated as the standard orange flavor. There was more cherry than lime flavor to this drink, which didn't surprise me considering the bottle was all red and the drink itself was tinted red. I did not expect much lime flavor and I did not get much lime flavor. Overall, the drink has a very high sugar flavor to it. Looking at the label, it makes sense. One 20 oz. drink accounts for 25% of your daily intake. It leaves a slight aftertaste too. The thing with the aftertaste is that it is doesn't resemble the drink. It's almost an unrelated flavor. Weird. The drink makes me think back to when I was a kid and mixing stuff up with Kool-Aid. In this case, it's 1 part water, 2 parts sugar, 1 part generic cherry candy flavor.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Will not drink this again.

Nestea Enviga

I'm gonna review two of these at once. The first one I had was the "Berry" flavored tea. I purchased a 6 pack of the cans at Target for $5.99 last week. The first thing I realized was that the cans were not as big as I expected. The pictures and other print advertisements had me believing that the cans were the bigger 16 oz size that is very common in most energy drinks. Not the case. These are 12 ounce cans that are as big around as a Red Bull, only taller. Of course, the first thing I do is smell it when I opened it. Not too strong, however being that it is a "tea", I wouldn't expect much more than this. The flavor is nice. Kinda reminds me of specialty drink that you would get at a coffee shop or bookstore. There is very little aftertaste. I would liken this to an energy drink, which fits right in where Coca Cola wants this. I don't picture myself buying these one at a time at the store, especially if they end up around $1.50 or so. I'd rather get an energy drink or something else that I haven't tried. For a dollar, however, this is a good pickup. About a week after going through the Berry, I picked up a 6 pack of Peach from Target on sale for $5.50. Overall, I like the peach considerably more. Now, being that I am partial to peach flavored stuff, I will back up the statement with reasons. The second I opened it, I noticed it had a much stronger aroma to it. The taste is even stronger. This is something I would consider buying again individually. Would be great to have in the summer evenings when sitting out on the porch or stoop.

There has been some discussion as to whether or not you will actually burn calories from drinking it or not. Does it raise metabolism? Does it give me energy? Well, it gives me a little boost. Not great. I haven't had one of these with a meal. Instead, I usually have it about an hour or two after lunch with pretzels or a light snack. It doesn't matter to me what the studies about these drinks show. Everyone reacts differently to caffeine or taurine. These drinks do have a lot of caffeine. About 100 mg a can puts it up there with coffee drinks. One of the things I like best about Enviga is found on the back. Five total calories a can and the first ingredient is carbonated water. Aspartame is also listed as ingredient, but not high up. I don't worry too much about the effects of aspartame or Splenda. I don't have a high intake of either one of these. The one major ingredient I try to shy away from is high fructose corn syrup and it is nowhere to be found. if aspartame scares you, stay away from this one.

5 Words to Sum it Up: Nice hybrid drink. Good flavors.

Snapple Peach Pomegranate Red Tea

I had the opportunity to try this tea today. I stopped at the gas station this morning looking for something to drink later in the morning just before lunch. I'm trying to stay away from soda or sugary drinks. I was near the checkout when I saw the drink in one of those coolers with ice. It immediately jumped out to me since peach and pomegranate are my two favorite fruit flavors. I've always been a fan of Snapple products so I snatched it up right away.

The first thing I did when I opened it was smell it. At first it smells like any other bottled tea out there. Same thing goes for the taste. It's only after the 2nd and 3rd drinks do I notice the "flavor". Now, since I did expect it to have more robust flavor. It did not taste overwhelmingly like either peach or pomegranate. In fact, I had to look on the back to see if in fact, they were listed as actual ingredients. There it was... Good old "natural flavors" as an ingredient at the end. Flipping back to the front I noticed down at the bottom right where it says "Natural Peach and Pomegranate Flavors and Other Natural Flavors" in small print. In other words, synthetic, not naturally occurring or actual juice. The only real juice named is "pear juice concentrate". Hmmm.

I like the tea as far as traditional teas are concerned. It's better than most white or green teas I have tasted. Will I buy it again? Maybe on one of those days where I'm like "Man, you know what would taste good? That Snapple Red Tea I had a few months ago." Don't get me wrong, I will be trying the other flavors that are offered from them. Acai Mixed Berry and Mandarin Tangerine both sound pretty delicious too, huh?

5 Words to Sum It Up... Better than average, not perfect.